Founding Farmers

November 1st brought one of the largely anticipated restaurant openings to new King of Prussia Town Center, Founding Farmers (FF) welcomed guests to into its full-service restaurant and bar open seven days a week serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, and our Farmers Market Buffet Brunch on weekends. FF is owned by more than 47,000 American family farmers of North Dakota Farmers Union and is supplied daily by hundreds of family farms everywhere. Their restaurants offer versions of all-American and farmhouse classics with modern interpretations and preparations. The focus is to provide guests with the freshest, highest quality ingredients that have been grown and harvested, and then expertly prepared by our talented chefs from scratch every day. Currently there are 4 FF locations and 2 sister restaurants.

The First Bake Cafe & Creamery located on the ground floor in King of Prussia serves light fare, coffees and scratch sodas, fresh baked breads, donuts and pies, and house-churned ice cream, all available to go or for enjoyment at the counter or one of the cafe tables. Throughout the collection of FF restaurants, they strive to create interesting, unique interiors. The best way they know how to do this is to step away from current, mass-produced culture and seek out the individual creative spirit as found in original pieces of art and custom-made designs. Aligned with our principles to stay close to our sources (as we do with our food and drink), they collaborate with local and regional artists and designers.

At FF King of Prussia, collaborations with local and regional artists produced original pieces of art that reflect the spirit of our restaurant and tell the story of how our FF inspired us. Featured artists include: Darla Jackson, Patrick Cabry, Neile Cooper, Nathan Loda, and Constance Stuven. The artists are as important as the art itself, as with the farmer and the crop. FF wants their guests to appreciate the artwork in the restaurants and the stories they tell. They work to create a restaurant atmosphere that allows guests to be fed not only delicious food and drink, but also mind food to nourish and entertain their intellect, heart, and soul.

Julia Bigelow, is the talented head baker in KOP and does an incredible job baking up amazing creations. FF donuts and bagels are an incredible way to start the day. From freshly baked bread and house-churned butter to craft cocktails with FF proprietary spirits – the menus vary from restaurant to restaurant. Jon Arroyo is the Beverage director and has been with the team since day one. His ability to create incredible cocktails is simply amazing utilizing spirits that are distilled back in the DC distillery, Founding Spirits, so the journey goes directly from the still to your glass.

Pierogies are unique to the menu in King of Prussia, as well as protein and grain bowls for the health conscious. And sometimes its nice to indulge, hand spun milkshakes are very popular! The DC/MD/VA locations are known for their fried chicken and waffles – but in KOP, they took a different route and serve the Fried Chicken & Donut– which is new, exciting, and delicious.

We have no doubt you’ll be astonished by the vast menu at FF. Starting at the very top of the lunch/dinner menu you will see the Social Bites section. These plates are perfect for snacking tapas style and pair excellently with a craft cocktail, beer, or wine. From this section we’d suggest you sample the Glazed Bacon Lollis, Ahi Tuna Bites, and Pierogies (pan fried or boiled) with various fillings from traditional Potato, Cheese, Spinach, Chicken, Pork and Loaded Baked Potato to Beef, Rice, and Cheese.

Next there is the Table & Farm Breads all made in house at the bakery. We tried tried the Prosciutto & Fig Toasts with fig jam and mascarpone. A very popular choice is also the Signature Skillet Cornbread with sea salted honey butter and Pretzels & Dips with pimento cheese, BBQ mustard, and sour cream & onion dip.

FF menu also includes a raw bar selection of Oysters and Clams, as well as Bakers Pizza. There is a variety of Soups & Salads as starters or entree sized. And for the families and those looking for comfort food, they’ve got the crowd-pleasers like burgers under the Burger Shop section, as well as Hot Dogs, and Sandwiches. We’ve been long time fans of the FF Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup since first visiting the restaurant in Washington, D.C. years ago. This classic dish is made with munster, gruyère, and white cheddar cheeses on toasted brioche. An exclusive new plate for the KOP location is the Pennsylvania Mushroom Melt with a side of potato sauerkraut, and side Italian Sunday salad.

Comfort foods better than your mom mames can be found under the Roasted and Pot Foods sections. Menu items include Pennsylvania Pot Roast with mashed potatoes, and braised vegetables, and Roasted Turkey & Gravy with mashed potatoes, green beans, cornbread dressing, and cranberry relish. Yes that’s right, you don’t have to wait until November to enjoy your Thanksgiving favorites served year-round at FF KOP.

Entrees include everything your heart could possibly desires from steak, chicken, seafood, and pastas made from scratch, every day, in house. All seafood served at FF is sustainably wild-caught or sustainably farmed and traceable. Chicken is all-natural, humanely raised from Bell & Evans of Fredericksburg, PA. And the majority of steaks come from a collaboration with family-owned, J.W. Trueth, who works directly with Pennsylvania cattle farmers for our local and regional beef. The pork on the menu is from Leidy’s in Souderton, Pennsylvania.

We’d say you have to try an order of the Southern Fried or Spicy Fried Chicken & Donut since it’s a signature plate and totally delicious! The gooey base of mac & cheese underneath the crispy chicken, honey meunière, green beans, and cane syrup glazed donut is so plump and amazing. We were equally taken by the Twin Lamb Chops which are a generous portion served alongside scalloped potatoes, and root vegetable succotash with a complimentary mustard seed and chimichurri sauce. The Chesapeake Style Crab Cakes are also very popular with a side of broccolini, and farm-a-roni (FF version of rice-a-roni).

For something a bit lighter, FF offers the fish of the day cooked in various styles. Simple Style with JQ Dickerson salt & pepper, fresh lemon, served with sautéed escarole & rapini, and panzanella salad. Meunière style with garlic, shallots, butter; served with farm-a-roni, and green vegetables. Montreal Spiced with charred tomato butter; served with farm-a-roni, and sautéed escarole & rapini. Crab & Lemon Beurre Blanc style with mashed potatoes, and root vegetable succotash.

There are also various vegetarian options on the menu, as well as those which can be made vegan. The Impossible Meatloaf called to us since its name was so perplexing. This dish is entirely plant-based; served with mashed potatoes, and grilled broccolini. We were honestly shocked at how much the flavors and textures in this meatloaf mimic those qualities of the real think! We also love the option of Cauliflower Steak with apple, farro, buckwheat grain salad, grilled broccolini, and a tomato cider glaze.

So next time you’re in King of Prussia make sure to check OpenTable to reserve your table at Founding Farmers King of Prussia. And if you don’t have time to sit down and enjoy the restaurant you can always grab something to go from the bakery!

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